'Double-speak' of BJP in poll campaign getting exposed: Yechury

New Delhi, Apr 23: CPI(M) on Wednesday said the "double- speak" of

in the election campaign was getting exposed with

talking about development and an "intense communal campaign" lurking behind it.

"What is to be understood is that these instances (of hate speeches) are not aberrations of some individuals. This is integral to the political platform of BJP and Narendra Modi. The people and the country have been forewarned," senior party leader Sitaram Yechury said.

Referring to such speeches made by BJP-VHP-RSS leaders, like Amit Shah, Giriraj Singh and Pravin Togadia, he said these were directed against the minorities and those opposing the Hindutva agenda and were "part of the campaign being conducted by the entire RSS cadre who are out in the field to support the BJP's election campaign".

In most cases of "communal campaign", those making such speeches were being defended by BJP, including its Prime Ministerial candidate, Yechury said.

"The duality in the BJP's election campaign is getting exposed. At the top, there is a veneer of Modispeak about 'development' and promise of good governance and employment. Lurking beneath is an intense communal campaign which is specially concentrated in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar," he said.

In an editorial in the forthcoming issue of 'People's Democracy', he said, "Modi is presiding over such a campaign camouflaging it with talk of delivering all-round development and effective government. But the communal trappings and the divisive hatred being spawned cannot be concealed."

On BJP candidate Giriraj Singh's speech for which he has been barred from campaigning, Yechury said, "The branding of all critics of Hindutva as anti-national and pro-Pakistan is an old trick employed by the Sangh combine.

The allusion to Pakistan is also meant to target the Muslim community who are always caricatured as being loyal to Pakistan." Similarly, Shah's call for "avenging insults" was given to a Jat audience in an area which witnessed the worst communal violence in recent times and was "only meant to rouse communal hatred with talk about revenge and protecting honour", the CPI(M) leader said.

"It is significant that the BJP leadership defended Shah by saying that he had only called for revenge by voting. Modi himself came out in his defence," Yechury said.

On Togadia's reported campaign to "spew hatred" and that Muslims should not own houses in Hindu areas, he said, "What Togadia has threatened is actually the practice in Modi's Gujarat.

"In Ahmedabad, Vadodara and other cities, Muslims cannot buy apartments in housing complexes which are for Hindus only. Ghettoisation and segregation have been put in place for the last few decades."

PTI